John Bermel - Head Coach - Women's Golf Coaches

John Bermel

Title:
Head Coach
Email:
john.bermel@uni.edu
Phone:
273-3100

John Bermel enters his 27th year of coaching golf at the University of Northern Iowa in 2021. He began coaching the men's golf team in 1995 and added the women's golf team in 2002, making this his 19th with the women.

In addition to coaching, Bermel has competed in the PGA Championships in 1994 and 1996. He has also been the Iowa Section PGA Champion in 1990, 1993, 2000, 2004, 2006, and a five-time runner-up.

He qualified for the 2012 U.S. Senior Open at Indianwood Golf and Country Club in Lake Orion, Michigan. Bermel also competed in 16 National Club Professional Tournaments, four Nike/Hogan Tour Events, and 10 PGA Tour Events.

Bermel is the Teaching Instructor of Executive Golf Limited. He's worked with some of the best golf instructors in the United States in order to learn and teach the latest methods of golf instruction. In July 2009, Golf Digest named Bermel "The Best Teacher" of golf in the state of Iowa, based on a poll of golf instructors.

Bermel was the recipient of the Labron Harris Sr. Award presented by E-Z-GO in cooperation with The PGA of America and the Golf Coaches Association of America in 2011.

In 2012, Bermel was named the Iowa PGA Professional of the Year.

Bermel currently serves as the head golf professional at Pheasant Ridge Golf Course in Cedar Falls. He previously held the same title at Beaver Hills Country Club in Cedar Falls from 1990-1995.

Between 1986-1989, he was an assistant golf professional at three highly respected Iowa courses -- the Mason City Country Club, the Des Moines Golf and Country Club, and Sunnyside Country Club in Waterloo. While at Mason City, he was chosen the 1987 Assistant Golf Professional of the Year.

Bermel was inducted into the Iowa Golf Hall of Fame in 2014.

Graduating in 1984, Bermel was a three-time NCAA Division III All-American and four-year varsity letter winner at Central College in Pella, Iowa. He was inducted into the Central College Hall of Fame in 2013.

John and his wife, Tracy, have five children and reside in Cedar Falls. Abby and Jake, the two oldest, both played for their father at UNI. Daughters Hannah and Hailey enter their senior years and son Ben enters his sophomore year on the UNI golf teams. Bermel's brother, Jamie, is the head men's golf coach at the University of Kansas.